Among the scores of features offered by Gmail, auto-reply is one of the most useful ones, which allows users to go offline for a couple of days or weeks, while Google keeps replying to the emails.

If you’re planning a vacation or are going to be away from work for whatever reason, here is how you can set up automatic reply on Gmail from a browser on your PC or the Gmail apps for Android and iOS.

When are automatic replies sent on Gmail?

Once you’ve set up the auto-reply feature, it’ll turn on at 12 am of the start date set by you and end on 11:59 pm of the set end date.

Typically, Gmail will automatically reply to the first time someone send you an email. However, if the same person contacts you again after four days, then they’ll receive another auto-reply, given the feature is still enabled.

As mentioned above, you can choose to send an automatic reply to only your contacts. If you use Gmail for work or your educational institution, you can choose to only send an auto-reply to people in your organisation.

Automatic reply won’t be sent to any emails you’ve received as part of a mailing list subscriber or anything that gets sent to the spam folder.

Also read: How to block emails on Gmail?

How to set up automatic reply in Gmail on PC?

Follow the steps mentioned below to set up automatic reply on Gmail’s website via a browser on PC.

Step 1: Click on the Gear (Settings) icon near the top-left of the screen (to the left of your profile picture). From the dropdown menu, click on See all settings option.

Step 2: Under the General tab, scroll to the bottom of the page and then tap on the box beside Out of Office AutoReply on. option Once you’re done filling in the information as mentioned below, click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the screen.

• Then set the starting date for the auto-reply from your Gmail account beside First day. You can optionally also set the Last day.
• Then write the Subject of the auto-reply and then the body text under it in the Message box.
• If you want your auto-reply emails to only go to your contacts on Gmail, then check the box beside Only send a response to people in my Contacts.

If you haven’t set an end date, once you’re back and want to disable the automatic reply feature, login to Gmail and click on the End now button you’ll see in a banner at the top of your inbox, which displays the subject of your automatic reply.

Also read: How to change the primary currency on PayPal and add currencies?

How to set up automatic reply in Gmail app for Android and iOS?

Open the Gmail app on your Android or iOS device and follow the steps mentioned below to set up automatic reply.

• Tap on the horizontal three bars (hamburger) menu icon at the top-left of the app display.
• Scroll down on the menu that appears to the left, and tap on Settings.
• On the next page, tap on the Gmail account for which you want to set up automatic replies.
• On the next page, scroll down and tap on Out of Office AutoReply under General.
• On the next page, first tap on the toggle button beside Out of Office AutoReply. Then set the starting date for the auto-reply from your Gmail account under First day. You can optionally also set the Last day.
• Then write the Subject of the auto-reply and then the body text under it in the Message box. If you want your auto-reply mails to only go to your contacts on Gmail, then check the box beside Send to my contacts only.
• Once all the details above are completed, tap on the Done button at the top-right of the screen.

While the guide above uses screenshots from Gmail’s Android app, the exact same steps are also applicable on Gmail’s iOS app.

Also read: How to change the language in Google Docs?